NewsUSAAfghanistan frees its last US prisoner in prisoner swap between Washington and the Taliban

Afghanistan frees its last US prisoner in prisoner swap between Washington and the Taliban

The Afghan Taliban regime has released its last American prisoner, war veteran Mark Frerichs, in exchange for the surrender of a senior member of the group, Bashir Noorzai. Frerichs, who worked for more than a decade as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan, had been captured by the Taliban in January 2020. The two exchanged at Kabul airport.

The operation represents one of the most relevant prisoner exchanges since President Joe Biden arrived at the White House in January 2021, and comes just five months after another negotiation, this time with Russia, for the release of veteran Trevor Reed. . In Frerichs’s case, his family had expressed fear that the abrupt US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the fall of the Afghan government last year would jeopardize contacts to rescue him and that the former marine would remain forever in the hands of the captors of him.

The United States does not recognize the Taliban regime, but it does maintain sensitive contacts with its authorities to press for women’s rights – curtailed and practically non-existent since the Islamic militia took over Kabul – or to provide assistance to the inhabitants of the Central Asian country.

In a call with reporters, a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, called allowing Noorzai’s march a “difficult decision” but one necessary to secure the return of a US citizen. Biden, who was in the United Kingdom to participate in the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of England, telephoned Frerichs’ relatives early on Monday to inform them of her release. The former hostage is in good health, according to the aforementioned senior official.

In a statement, the US president acknowledged, without referring to her directly, that he did not take “lightly” the decision to release Noorzai, a warlord and drug trafficker. Sentenced in 2005 to life in prison by a US court, he was serving a sentence in a federal penitentiary. “His release culminates years of tireless work by hard-working officials in our government and in the governments of other friendly countries,” the White House tenant said.

Biden has also promised to continue efforts to free other US citizens held abroad. Among them are basketball player Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, both jailed in Russia.

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Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico, visited Moscow last week. The passage through Russia of the former Democratic governor, who after his return to civilian life has specialized in negotiations for the release of hostages, sparked speculation about a new drive to secure the release of both Americans. But then the State Department said that any attempt to free Americans held abroad should be coordinated with the government in Washington, to avoid misunderstandings.

“Any effort that takes place outside of the official channel has the potential to complicate what is already an extraordinarily complicated challenge,” spokesman Ned Price said. In August, Washington assured that it had made “a substantial offer” to secure the release of its two citizens.

Griner, who has two Olympic gold medals to her credit and is a star of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), was sentenced in August to nine years in prison in Russia for drug possession offenses. The athlete, to whom doctors had prescribed cannabis – an illegal substance in Russia – to treat chronic pain, was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport when cartridges for inhaling nicotine with marijuana were found inside her. The White House has described the sentence as “unacceptable.” Whelan, for his part, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison for espionage, a charge the prisoner denies.

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Source: EL PAIS

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